>> andrea: republicans are despondent and looking for the future of the party. a friend of mine announced this week, pete schneider at for lieutenant governor of virginia. virginia is the place to watch next year. follow him. a huge rising star. that's it for us. thank you for watching. have a great weekend, everybody. ♪ >> bret: rephrases like we're almost nowhere ominous? or the first step toward budget deal? this is "special report." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. the gloves are slowly coming off in the battle over how to get off the fiscal cliff. republicans call president bam become's opening proposal ludicrous. and absurd. the president is going public to try to ridicule the g.o.p. lawmakers to accepting the tax

hikes now. >> i miss visiting towns like this. >> president obama got his wish, rather than negotiating with republicans he was hamering them. back on the campaign trail in a factory that makes angry bird toys. >> it's not accept to believe me and i don't think it's acceptable for you for republicans in congress to hold middle class tax cuts hostage because they don't want the tax rates on the upper income folks to go up. >> within minutes, john boehner fired back the talks are on life support. >> let's not kid ourselves. >> boehner ripped the president for sending treasury secretary ti tim geithner to capitol hill with a proposal that led mitch mcconnell literally burst out laughing. >> the white house took three weeks to respond with any kind of proposal. and much to my disappointment, it wasn't a serious one.

>> their beef is the president campaigned on $800 billion in tax increases by ending the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. but is now proposing double that. $1.6 trillion. by adding tax hikes on dividends and capital gains. plus, the white house wants $50 billion in new spending next term alone in long term deal about cutting spending. >> they want to have this extra spending greater than the amount they want to cut. not serious proposal. >> but the president may have the upper hand because the fiscal cliff talks allow him to back opposition to a corner, by framing this as the republicans raising taxes. >> if congress does nothing, every family in america will see their income taxes automatically go up on january 1. the lump of coal you get for christmas. >> congressional democrats are

operating like they don't have to compromise on spending or taxes. >> elections have consequences. the president campaigned. he made it very clear. he made it very clear that he was supporting tax cuts for the middle class. that he wanted the expiration of the tax cuts for the high end. >> with very little progress among the inside players so far, the president now plans to keep pressuring republicans from the outside. he will be meeting with the nation's governors tuesday and he will address the business round table on wednesday. bret? >> bret: ed henry live on north lawn. thank you. we'll talk now about what almost everyone seems to be afraid of. if a deal does not get done. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel has the worst case scenario. >> i'm more worried about the sequester now than ever. >> that is because senator cornyn believes the automatic defense and spending cut due to start in the new year known as sequestration is not treated with a sense of urgency.

>> it's overshadowed by the fiscal cliff negotiations. >> it's timed with the country hitting the fiscal cliff, $500 billion of tax increases and spending cuts. scheduled to take effect in january. ill led to the super committee to create work out cuts of $1.# trillion. on defense, 9.4% cut for every program across the board regardless of merit. in 2013 trimming $3.9 billion from defense operation and maintenance. air force and navy would be cut by $4.2 billion. afghan security forces chopped by $1.3 billion. and embassy money and consulate would lose $1.2 billion. asked about the spending cut

deal, the top democrats suggested they're finished. >> that is part of a big bold and balanced package that has big cuts. we voted for $1 trillion in cuts. revenues are needed and job creation is essential to reduce deficit. >> today, pelosi clarified she was not referring to the sequester. unless there is action in a hurry, there is a risk national security could be affected in what is a takous world. >> i'm worried because the only part of the federal government that obama administration appears to be willing to cut is the defense department. >> education would be cut by $2.3 billion. medicare payments to hospitals would be slashed by 5.6 billion. and custom and border patrol would lose $823 million. >> the point is to make it

painful so they want to cut with a scalpel than a m machete. but it's not clear they will. >> bret: please join chris wallace for "fox news sunday" this weekend. he will have an exclusive interview with house speaker john boehner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. chris will talk to tim geithner. a "fox news sunday" you do not want to miss. check your local listings. consumer spending was down .2 of a percentage point in october. the dow finished ahead. the nasdaq lost two. europe's economy remains in the tank. 17 euro zone countries have a combined unemployment rate of 11.7%. that is the highest since the introduction of the common currency in 1999. 18.7 million people are out of work for the euro zone. pain and greece have jobless rates of more than 25%. back at home, the question of who will be the nation's top

diplomat in president obama's second term continues to intersect with complaints about how the administration handled the libya terror attack. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge with the continuing saga of what susan rice knew and when she knew it. >> since it's classified briefing on capitol hill two weeks ago, lawmakers stressed that ambassador susan rice had asked for the unclassified intelligence on the benghazi attack, including the controversial c.i.a. talking points, as well as classified information. now leading republican in the senate tells fox that the classified information included the president's daily brief. from the 16 intelligence agencies, the top secret document including evidence of terrorist involvement. >> she had access to the full presidential daily brief. on intelligence. so she was well informed. and knew that our intelligence community felt that there were ties to al-qaeda affiliates

that were involved in the attacks. >> earlier in week, democrats defended rice, questioning why it took so long for the intelligence community to assess there was no demonstration. citing two critical pieces of data. >> the interview with the people on the ground, as well as the video evidence. that took time. in some cases days, in some cases more than a week. that accounted for a lot of inaccurate information initially. one of the questions that i asked is why did it take as long as it did. >> aside from the benghazi controversy, a new report focuses on rice's financial holdings with her husband. the couple owns stock in two overseas conglomerate, royal dutch shell and the italian oil company en that i shall until recently did business with iran. spokeswoman for ambassador rice said she fully complied with the disclosure rules and adding with respect iran ambassador rice worked to impose the toughest u.n. sanctions regime ever on iran for the continueed failure to live up to the obligation. government watchdog group who

has reviewed rice's financials sethe records have been out there for a year but only this week got a second look. >> because she is such a controversial nominee, they tend to get magnified. every cabinet secretary or appointee or potential appointee, people who go through the past and the history and ask questions. >> monday the head of u.s. africa command is scheduled to speak at george washington university at the rising threat of terrorism. they will face questions about the growing presence of al-qaeda as well as the military could have done more in benghazi attack on 9/11. >> bret: his name came up a lot. thank you. what is the best country in the world to be from? the answer will surprise you. that is later in the grapevine. up next, a lot of people in egypt are not happy with their country's president. [ male announcer ] red lobster's crabfest ends soon. hurry in and try five succulent entrees, like ourender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. just $12.99. come into red lobster and sea food differently. and introducing 7 lunch choices for just $7.99.

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>> bret: widespread fires in egypt. tens of thousands protested again today in c

perceived power grab by the country's new president. correspondent steve harrigan tells us the situation has gone from bad to worse. >> egypt's government may have thought pushing through a new draft constitution would ease street protests. but so far, the reverse is true. some of the biggest crowds yet marching downtown to demand the overthrow of the first democratically elected president mohammed morsi. >> now we have president morsi and we don't understand is f he is the president of egypt or muslim brotherhood. >> they walked in out protest. >> there are concerns over the lack of protection and women's rights and the role of islamic law as a source for many legislation. it places some constraint on

the presidential power. limiting the president to two four-year terms and it provides for civilian oversight of the military. president morsi has vowed to give up the powers he assumed last week the started the protest, as soon as the constitution is ratified. he has 15 days to give it to referendum. >> this is critical until they draft the constitution and it goes to people to decide. >> opposition leaders are vowing to sleep in the square until morsi denounces his decree. >> despite the protests. egypt president has the broad public backing and members of the political party from the muslim brotherhood hold demonstrations in support of the president on saturday. bret? >> bret: steve harrigan live saturday in cairo. thanks. another day without internet and telephone service with people in war torn syria. they show the government war plane firing rockets on homs this week.

video of spoke rising from the bomb strikes in other towns. north korea may be preparing for a rocket launch. sections are strucked in the launch site. but there is speculation that it may be a bluff. to rat the obama administration. and south carolina presidential election. shooting down rockets and missiles is idea behind israel so-called iron dome. said to be effective in conflict with hamas. what. we look at the questions from the pentagon. >> 1,500 rockets were fired at israel from the gaza strip in eight day of fighting. the iron dome missile system said to intercepted most of them. modern warfare game changer in the middle east. >> iron dome, performed, fair to say remarkably well.

in the recent escalation. >> only 55 out of the 1,500 ended up falling. >> the u.s. taxpayers invested $275 million to help israel build and seal the iron dome which can stop incoming rockets within a 2.5-mile to 44-mile range. israel outgoing defense minister gave panetta a model as a token of gratitude. >> small iron dome. >> but the u.s. army want mrs. than a model. it wants its own antimissile system. and congress would like a favorable discount given what the u.s. has already invested in the system. >> but instead of buying from israelis who already have technology, the army may decide to start from scratch. with a u.s. con tacker. system called ai-3 to take hundreds of millions of

dollars taxpayers dollars and years to develop. those who argue the u.s. military need iron dome point to casualties in the 1991 gulf war when iraqi scud missile hit an american mess haul tent in saudi arabia. >> 19 lives could have been saved. so that type of break through in defensive capabilities is rare in history. it's happening now in the state of israel. >> secretary panetta is next to defense minister bar rank at the pentagon said any new weapon system would need to be cost effective. the most cost effective option may have been made. bret? >> bret: jennifer griffin at pentagon. thank you. still ahead -- get ready to shell out more of your money for obamacare. first, the republicans court the hispanic vote. ♪

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>> bret: the republican outreach to hispanics and other minorities is taking shape. the house today voted on the first step in g.o.p. immigration reform. correspondent doug mckelway tells us what is in it. >> with today's passage of stem jobs act, republican controlled house goes on record with a pro immigration, pro job creation bill. it provides green cards for 55,000 immigrants with advanced degrees in the sciences. but it also allows the recipient's families to join them and attempt to end the brain drain that hampers the high-tech industry. >> it makes no sense to educate people, bright, talented people and then frankly deport them so they can compete against the united states. >> but the bill infure rated many democrats. it ends the green card lottery that randomly picks 55,000 immigrants regardless of education from countries with low immigration rate.

>> that just shows the colleagues still haven't gotten it from the recent election. >> when you have control of the house, senate and white house you did not pass immigration reform. let's stop treating this like a political football. >> republicans were infuriated orve this remark from hank johnson from georgia. >> i don't know what is in the head of those who supporting this bill. but if it's not racist in its intent, it certainly racist in its effect. >> i'm personally insulted that anyone would use even loosely the term of "racism" as part of a statement related to merit-based advanced degrees. >> the bill faces a dim future in the democrat controlled senate. republicans there filed their own pro-immigration bill, the achieve act that would grant path to citizenship for illegals through college or military service. taken together, the two bills present a clear a terntive to democrats' immigration policies. alternative expressed by g.o.p. rising star texas

senator elect ned cruz. >> essence of the conservative message is we want a dynamic nation where anybody with nothing can achieve anything. >> example of why republicans say the stem act is important to american competitiveness, 38% of the high-tech grads from foreign countrys. leading american companies, immigrant contributed to three out of ever four patents filed. >> bret: thank you. bipartisan coalition in senate approved a measure limiting the government's power to indefinitely detain american citizens and legal residents suspected of terrorism. senators voted to make permanent a ban on moving guantanamo bay prisoners to the u.s. those amendments are part of the senate $631 billion defense billion. the white house has threatened veto. the supreme court is considering whether to take up the issue the matter of gay marriage. same-sex marriage is legal or will soon be in nine states. 31 states have amended their

constitution to prohibit it. cases would probably be argued in march with decisions next june. foreign lawmaker points to president obama after a controversial move. and one republican congressman tries to get out of his antitax promise by playing the numbers game. "grey's anatomy" i -- the grape. looking back, it's amazing how far i've come. shriners hospitals have everything to do with that.

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>> bret: now fresh pickings from the political grapevine. where is the best place to be

born? if you said the united states, you're not even close. yahoo reports a quality of life index from the economist intelligence unit, sister company of the economist magazine, finds switzerland is the best based on factors including wealth, crime, family life, trust in government and economic stability. australia is next. followed by norway. sweden, and denmark. the u.s., "where babies will inherit large debt of the boomer generation" languishes back in 16th place. in 1988, the u.s. was first. france was second. in that country, france, socialist politician is calling out president obama's policies as socialist. cnbc reports industry ministry says company arthello armitol employs 20,000 people in france should leave after announcing it would close down

factories. the french government says it could nationalize that factory, with backing from an unnamed businessman. montebor says barack obama is nationalized, germans are nationalizing, all countries are nationalizing. he may have been referring to the u.s. auto bail-out. we reached out to the white house but have not heard back. finally freshman congressman chris gibson republican from new york is catching flak for trying to slip out of an antitax pledge. gibson signed the grover-norquist pledge in 2010 but argues it no longer applies because redistricting changed the number of the districts he represents. gibson spokeswoman says, "the congressman signed the pledge as a candidate in 2010, for the 20th congressional district. regarding the pledge moving forward, congressman gibson doesn't plan to resign it for the 19th congressional district which he now represents." the pledge is to your

constituents of a number district. norquist rejects the logic. saying the pledge is clearly made in writing to quote the american people. conservative writer john fund says gibson, "his constituents may not be able to trust his word on the penal he took but they can count on the fact that he is now potential vote for just about any tax hike, budget deal could contain. " we told you earlier there is little reported progress in budget negotiations. healthcare has not so far been major issue in the fiscal cliff talks. it may. but chief national correspondent jim angle tells us tonight that president obama won re-election and obamacare kicks in, the economy is about to feel the effects. >> starting january 1, the obama administration will raise taxes far more than just eliminating the bush tax cuts for the top brackets. the new healthcare law will raise taxes of its own. additional $318 billion over ten years. including a new 3.8% tax on

investment income and reduced deductions for those of all incomes. >> this is not an incon quincable thing. you are -- incon consequencial thing. >> those affected most will the small businesses many of which pay taxes at the individual rate and get a double whammy with the simultaneous end of the bush tax cut and tax increases under obamacare. almost 60% increase in tax on investment. >> entrepreneurs with small businesses, certain number of workers now they will be facing a four or five, 10% point increase in the tax liabilities. that means they will have income to invest in their firm. >> for some small businesses it could be a hardship. for other small businesses. they are going to go doing what they are doing. >> in fact, it may be much cheaper for small businesses to pay a $2,000 fine, to not offer insurance and let the employs go on the taxpayer subsidize exchanges instead, which are supposed to be ready in october of 2013.

the new obamacare taxes will be a major source of money for rather generous taxpayers subsidy. >> the subsidy depend young income, 10, 12, $15,000. a lot of taxpayer support. much higher important to understand than the support that someone gets if they stay in employer plan today. >> extent for the taxpayer. many businesses are waiting for instruction on what they must include in insurance plan but may have to renew coverage before they get them. >> some of them will have renewals in the spring. some will be in the summer. some in the fall. the clock is clicking down. >> giant experiment for individuals an small businesses, experiment in healthcare and federal finances. one whose outcome even the supporters aren't sure how to predict. bret? >> bret: jim. thanks. how will the new obamacare taxes affect you? let me know on twitter. follow me@bretbaier.

tonight we are showing the best pictures from the military and state department personnel serving abroad as part of an art and embassy 50th anniversary celebration in washington. these are the 12 winners of the best in show. 3200 images were actually submitted. 161 finalists were judged by a panel that included four former giant chiefs of staff. here is the director of the program. >> the first program we started with last year, last november. called serving abroad through their eyes. collaboration with the department of state and the pentagon. we asked members deployed to submit digital image of something that represented their life. the times in between. serving abroad through their eyes and the prompt was life, love, loss, es. >> bret: they are fantastic images.

you should see them. the images are on display at the pentagon. thanks for bringing the images to us. we'll share them with you. they're on the website as well. we talk about what isn't getting done with the fox all-stars when we come back. has, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid.

the white house spent three weeks trying to develop a proposal and they send one up here that calls for $1.6 trillion of new taxes. calls for a little, not even $400 billion in cuts. and they want, they want to have this extra spending. that is actually greater than the amount they're willing to cut. i mean it's -- it was not a serious proposal. >> and so, right now, we are almost nowhere.

>> where the clock is really ticking right now is on middle class tax. the sooner congress gets this done, the sooner our economy will get a boost. >> and it would then give us in washington more time to work together on that long range plan to bring down the deficits in a balanced way. >> president obama in balance making the case for increasing taxes now. dealing with the big package after the new year. house speaker boehner saying that the proposal up on capitol hill from the administration was in his words "ludicrous." and republicans saying that actually they laughed at the initial proposal from the treasury secretary yesterday. let's bring in the panel. bill kristol of "weekly standard." juan williams, columnist with the hill. syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. okay, bill, is this part of the kabuki theater, the dance, choreographed back and forth? or are we really looking at

something that is in deep trouble here? >> it looks to me more like the theater. the president understandably is going to put out his optimal scenario first. especially since he is going to try to hammer republicans on the greatest vulnerability, the president will say over and over i propose and the senate democrats passed the tax cut, 98% of all americans to take a lot of, a lot of what the fiscal cliff is. move a lot of the damage to the economy on january 1. let's go ahead and pass that. we can debate the upper income taxes and the spending later. it's not implausible, you can make a sophisticated argument why it's a mistake but as a first blush argument the president has the advantage. >> bret: juan? >> i think that you are starting to see much of the posturing and the poxing and the -- positioning and the democrats and president have advantage and trying to take advantage of it. you see it from the polls that come out and most people blame

republicans if there is to deal. right now just what you saw from speaker boehner. speaker boehner says the president is asking for $1.6 trillion in terms of added revenue. boehner has come out and said he will do a deal with $800 billion, which is what the president was asking for before. what you have is the outline now, the early outlines of some in between spot where they could in fact find middle ground. then you have the democrats trying to put pressure on the republicans to name their own cuts. where would you cut in addition to the cuts that the president has made? >> bret: then you have nancy pelosi and what she is saying day after day, including today. let's take a listen to this. >> there is no announcement of the scheduling of the middle income tax cut. by the way, tremendous support in a republican caucus. i think we would get 100% vote on it. if it came to the floor. if it is not scheduled. but then on tuesday, we will

be introducing a discharge petition. you know if we get 218 signatures get it to the floor. >> any of the republicans you want to decouple, high income rates. mittal income rate said to you or any member to the team? >> no. >> in other words, she says she wants to bring up the piece of legislation that would raise the upper tier. but has no commitment from the republicans. she says are all for that. >> she won't get it. >> it's ridiculous, what the president proposed yesterday is increase. this isn't the tax, plus extra spending.

jay carney repeated the phrase 100 times. we raise taxes, which the republicans have already concedeed. we cut spending. they have done nothing on spending expect to propose increase in spending. it's preposterous. in context of that offer of nothing, ludicrous offer which is humiliating, they are not going to get any republicans signing on. if obama continues with the position he won't get anywhere. if he concedes and talks about the spending cut he might come up with an agreement. but he seems to think that he needs to offer nothing. because he is such a strong position. i think he is truly over estimating his hand here. >> bret: do you think democrats believe that republicans will cave on taxes? >> sure. >> do you think that the president believes that he can get this decoupling of taxes and spending? >> well, to some degree,

remember, what is the fiscal cliff? it will hurt the economy allegedly. i don't buy it but that is what everyone -- >> bret: it will hurt the pentagon, correct? >> right. and the domestic spending cuts. fiscal cliff is not cutting spending. it's about preventing a tax increase that preventing spending cuts. now the republican arguement is more complicated. to use the deadline, legitimate argument. i agree with it in principle. use the deadline to get the longer range spending cuts. the president can say fine, i want to negotiate those next year. can't do it in three weeks. incidentally, speaker boehner what medicare cuts are you for, he will say? if the republican position, the republicans campaigned against $716 million in medicare cuts from the current program. republicans for medicare reform. not for squeezing the current program. they will say i want to give the middle class, make sure the middle class tax rate stay where they are. i don't want the republicans to squeeze medicare more than we did, have done in the past. i'm worried. that the president has an awful lot of leverage.

>> bret: but you have the democrats, juan, like mike pryor of arkansas who told politico this -- "as you know people around here like the talk about millionaire's tax. you can do 100% tax rate on millionaires. it's still not going to balance the budget," he said. "changing the highest 2% is one of the things that may have to get done to make all this work. we're fooling ourselves if we think that that is the only thing." >> correct. you have to have serious cuts. you to do cuts. the whole notion behind the top 2% is not that it will balance the budget. nobody is saying that. it's that there would be a notion of -- i am using the political rhetoric -- shared sacrifice. to see if there will be major changes to program like medicare that people who can rely on. you know what? the very rich in this country have skin in the game, too. just in response to what billion was saying. you know what? the taxes will go up on everybody if we go over the cliff. >> i agree. >> there is a little bit of

pressure on president obama. president obama said he would defend the middle class and hardworking people of america again. encouraged by the republicans. you know he had skin in the game, too. >> bret: there are a lot of democrats against the bush era tax cuts. >> right. >> from the beginning. all of them. >> right. >> characterizing them as only for the rich. where now, they actually are for the middle class. as we -- >> that is the great irony. if you go over the cliff, what we're going to get is restoration of the cliff rates. on everybody. which if you watch the campaign the democrats argue that the clintoner rar was economic paradise. so, they balance the budget. they create 20 million new jobs. so why not return to the cliff, tax rates across the board? but i just want to make one point about what the leverage is here. i think the democrats imagine that republicans are going to cave without anything on spending.

they are overreaching their hand. the president understands that if he goes over the cliff, you poisen the second term. that is really ithink a threat to everything he wants to do. >> bret: one more thing. are the middle class tax cuts permanent then? or do they get some -- >> i think they are permanent. more than the bush years. this is a huge victory for republicans. they get 98% of the bush cuts signed by a democratic president. the cuts were not made permanent when george bush was re-elected. republicans control congress. this is better tax policy from a democratic president and half democrat controlled congress. than republicans were able to get put in law in 2005. do they give away something? yes. do they have to give away the upper income tax rates. >> as a matter of policy, it does absolutely nothing about our catastrophic deficit. it's 8 cents on the dollar. it's all a political attempt by obama. he created this issue as a way to have a class war issue with the campaign. it will have no effect on deficit.

no effect on rescuing us. and i think republicans ought not play that game. it doesn't help the income. >> to answer your question, the middle class tax cuts are permanent. and the response to charles would be that the obama white house believes it will help the economy. >> they're completely wrong. that is the problem. >> bret: next up, the friday lightning round. [ "odd couple" theme plays ] humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else mes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

>> bret: every week, viewers vote for your choice online in the lightning round poll. and this week, cabinet reshuffle won with 36% of the vote. back with the panel. okay, bill. susan rice hasn't been dominated for everything but we think she might be nominated for secretary of

state. although the white house is doing head counting after not a great week on capitol hill. >> it was striking. i spoke with the republican senators privately before they were seeking susan rice and i think they would like to make the case. successfully enough to say look, i don't approve what she did. on sunday after the september 11 attack. benefit of the doubt, you get the president. i think she was so unsatisfactory in the answers that i do think now she faces close to the united nations republican opposition. >> you have other stories coming out about the companies that invested in. the point is, is this an issue for would? is the president going to put her forward? >> she was protected of her in

the episode. but i think john kerry has been the leading candidate all along. but some people at the table think john kerry has negative bus i think he is the leading candidate. the other big ticket item here is the treasury secretary. you can see geithner leaving. and there is talk of erskine bowles or charles djo lew. >> they lost colin, the mild mannered senator in congress and the senator that introduced rice when she was nominated to be the u.n. ambassador, when you lose collins you have lost the world. i don't understand how she went around with meetings to

present her best side to the mccain and graham. to collins, ayotte and came out on the -- i'm talking about susan rice. she came out on the wrong end of this. and for some reason. i think her nomination is in deep trouble. the president if he is smart not going to nominate here. if he does, benghazi issue is going to rise again. >> bret: u.n. palestinian vote significance big picture? >> there is a great irony. the vote happened precisely and deliberately on the day on which in 1947 the general assembly voted to wide to british palestine to two states, jewish state and arab state. the jews accepted it and arabs rejected it. they made war. made war five times. had the arabs accepted that resolution, 65 years ago, we would now have a palestinian

state. that would be 65 years old. it doesn't exist but was created at the u.n. this was a fictional state in u.n. body. general assembly. i don't think it helps palestinians at all. >> bret: winners and losers, juan? winner? >> i think that a big winner is whoever won that power ball. [ laughter ] i'm told it was you. >> bret: no. two people won it. two families. >> that is a big winner. of course, i hear that one of them is from arizona. senator mccain had to tweet out that it wasn't him. >> bret: loser? >> loser who is anybody that said president obama doesn't support israel. or that there is no such thing as a missile defense shield. iron dome proved very, very effective for protecting israel during this war. >> bret: winner and loser bill? >> i continue with the class warfare theme here, i like to come back to once a year or two. the winner of the week, 19 top executives of the hostess brand who made enough bonuses

worth up to $2 million as the company goes out of business for managing the going out of business while the workers of course funds haven't been filled up for a year. the losers, the workers of america. in this budget deal that everybody is talking about the one tax that everyone agrees should go up on the democratic and republican side with a couple of outliers is payroll tax. the social security payroll tax. there is a tax increase in january. unless someone steps up and says wait a second, we are getting everyone else a tax break and let social security tax go up 2%. >> bret: winners and losers? >> bill kristol is turning in to a socialist. [ laughter ] >> family tradition. way back. >> secretary of the treasury sitting right over there. workers, champion. the winner mahmoud abbas locally because he outshone hamas on this even though the victory he won in the u.n. was pyraquan. loser speaker of the house john boehner. he offered the president a peace pipe and got in return a demand that he turned over his

sword, his shirt and at the end his trousers. that is a rather embarrassing position for the speaker. >> bret: he will be asked about it on "fox news sunday" with chris wallace. that is it for the panel. but stay tuned to see one thing congress did accomplish today. victor! victor! i got your campbell's chunky soup. mom? who's mom? i'm the giants mascot. the giants don't have a mascot! ohhh! eat up! new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. hmmm. for giant hunger!

thanks mom! see ya! whoaa...oops! mom? i'm ok. grandma? hi sweetie! she operates the head. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

>> bret: finally tonight, the big power ball lottery is over but the house had its own lottery today the office lottery for the incoming class of house freshman who become lawmakers early next year. this is a really big deal. they draw lots for the best offices remaining in the house office buildings. two years ago the winners of the best offices danced on think way up to pick the numbers. so, today, representative elect sharon busto wasn't there. her chief of staff went in there. she picked up and let's listen in.